THOMAS ANTHONY (TOM) BURLING

BURLING, THOMAS (TOM) ANTHONY January 16, 1968 – March 3, 2019 It is with tremendous grief and sadness that we announce the sudden passing of Tom on March 3, 2019, in his 52nd year.

Beloved husband to Jennifer and loving father to Ty and Natasha and canine Brody. Dear son of Dennis and Patricia (deceased) and step-mother Barb. Brother of Chris (Stefanie) and former sister-in-law to Joanne. Son-in-law of Bob and Anne, brother-in-law of Laura and Chris. Uncle to Mila, Saige and Londyn.

Tom was a sports enthusiast, active in everything from mountain biking, tennis, bow hunting and sometimes even golf. He was an inextinguishable “hockey dad”, always on the move driving Ty and Natasha around the province for practices, games and tournaments for hockey and lacrosse. In 1991, Tom answered an ad in the paper for warehouse work at Nike Canada. This job led him to many more and a fulfilling career in the Sporting Goods arena as a Customer Service Representative, Salesman, Account Executive and Merchandiser for Nike. Tom later “jumped the fence” into the role of “Buyer” for the Sporting Goods category for HBC, was an Account Executive for Levi’s and lastly had a long stint at Under Armour as a Sales Manager in a variety of categories including “Hook and Bullet”, where he immersed himself, taking up a new hobby in bow hunting.

In his spare time, he could often be found playing guitar, or listening at deafening volume to songs from the 80’s, hard rock and heavy metal bands from the last 40 years–most of whom you’ve never heard of-which was kind of the way he liked it. When he wasn’t playing music, he loved to travel extensively for concerts and festivals, most recently for his 50th birthday at “Heavy Montreal”. Tom was also an amateur photographer, snapping thousands of photos over the years, capturing many great memories of backyard pool parties, hockey games and other family events.

Tom had an enormous generosity that would see him going far and wide to ensure his family, friends and often folks he barely knew, had the latest and greatest Nike and Under Armour gear.

A private and intimate service was held on March 9th and Tom’s cremation has already occurred. A Celebration of Life will take place on Sunday, March 24th, from 3:30-6:30 p.m. at the “Lions and Sun Bar & Lounge”, 18947 Woodbine Avenue, Sharon, Ontario. This will be a casual affair, so please don’t over dress – Tom wouldn’t have approved of that!

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mental Health Unit at Southlake Hospital in Newmarket.